Mumbai:
With the Belgaum border battle heating up again, Raj Thackeray was in full flow on Friday, sparing no one his diatribe. Everyone else was anti-Maharashtra, was the gist.
"Why is it that every time Maharashtra has to protest for something. What are our MPs doing in Parliament? They do not even come together on the issues which are for betterment of the state," he said.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief was speaking on the contentious Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue after the Centre submitted an affidavit this week in the Supreme Court stating that Belgaum cannot become a part of Maharashtra just because most people in the district speak Marathi. Belgaum has been a bone of contention for long between the two states.
(Read: Whose Belgaum is it? The battle heats up)Comparing the state MPs with those in other states, Raj alleged that the Maharashtra MPs are busy with their 'own' progress.
Alleging that the Centre was biased towards Maharashtra, Raj said no one has expectations from Congress to resolve the border issue.
Thackeray also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for never having taken the issue up. "What should I say? While those in power have already dragged their feet on it?" he asked.
He lashed out at BJP for having two different opinions about the border dispute. "Eknath Khadse (BJP leader) said border villages are of Maharashtra. But their own government is in Karnataka. Then why can't they resolve the issue," Raj said.
So saying the Shiv Sena came in for flak. "When National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was in power, the Shiv Sena should have stressed that you will have our support if you are willing to sort this border issue," Thackeray said.
Even Maharashtra's MPs had never come together on the border issue, he said, thus betraying Maharashtra. As for the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Thackeray said, "Ashok Chavan can't even sort the best of 5 subjects' problem and says that he will go to Supreme Court on border issues."
And Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar "cannot see the Maharashtra-Karnataka border problem because he is blinded by the cricket floodlights. He has no time for these issues," Thackeray added.
The Centre, Thackeray concluded, "had always been anti-Maharashtra".
Other problems exercised Raj Thackeray too. He asked MNS unions to ensure that Marathi students should be able to give these exams in Marathi in Maharashtra.
(With PTI inputs)